Am I separated from the world?

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. - 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)

Authentic faith is marked by a desire to be separated from the world. When we accept Jesus as our Savior (justification), we begin a process of increasing in Christ-likeness (sanctification). In the process of increasing in Christ-likeness, our mind is being renewed. Our desire for the things of this world decreases as we stop being controlled by our old sin nature and seek to know and execute God's plan for our life.

Don't change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. - Romans 12:2 (ERV)

The renewing of our minds begins with the Word of God. As we fill our minds with His Word, the Holy Spirit, who entered our lives at the point of justification, begins His work to help us understand God's Word. As we continue to read the Bible daily and allow the Holy Spirit to transform our thinking, we notice a decreased desire for the things of this world (sin nature) and an increased desire for God's Word and the execution of His plan.

You should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this evil world becomes God's enemy. Do you think the Scriptures mean nothing? The Scriptures say, "The Spirit God made to live in us wants us only for himself." But the kindness God shows is greater. As the Scripture says, "God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble." - James 4:4-6 (ERV)

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. - John 17:17 (ESV)
There is no shortcut.
There is no magical formula for renewing our minds.
We must fill our minds with God's Word.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;

And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;

Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee;

Oh, bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee. - Annie Hawks

Let the separation between you and the world be final and irreversible. Say, 'Here I go for Christ and His Cross, for the faith of the Bible, for the laws of God, for holiness, for trust in Jesus; and never will I go back, come what may. - Charles Spurgeon

The healthy Christian is not necessarily the extrovert, ebullient Christian, but the Christian who has a sense of God's presence stamped deep on his soul, who trembles at God's word, who lets it dwell in him richly by constant meditation upon it, and who tests and reforms his life daily in response to it. - JI Packer

Be Encouraged to separate from the world by renewing your mind through the daily study of God's Word.

-Jeffrey Thornton